Oh Anime… It is quite an interesting genre isn’t it? I have always had a deep appreciation for the unique artistic style and story telling that goes into Anime. It truly sets itself apart as a category all on its own, separating itself from other western animations. You know when you are watching an Anime, you can see it in the style, in the artwork, in the way it is written, and seeing the culture within it. Anime is a really fun genre… And also one I’m not as immersed in as its western counterparts. I do enjoy Anime and I watch it on a frequent basis, whenever a series catches my eye. But it is not something that I generally seek out to watch. I look at Anime the same way I look at other television shows. Does this seem interesting and worth the copious amounts of time that I will surely spend pouring into it as I binge watch the series and through crusty, red eyes look out my window to realize that four days have passed and I’ve been sitting there watching a television show and drinking coffee? If the answer to that question is yes… So now you as the reader know just how I feel about Anime, I enjoy it… But I am by no means an Otaku like my friend Brandon “The Ultra Otaku” Lias (visit his site here) and generally look at Anime through a westerner’s perspective. But I do not think that should stop me from enjoying some Anime and so this week I am dedicating it to watching nothing but Anime for my site and I thought what better way to start Anime week then to watch some random Anime on Netflix, in this case the random Anime being B Gata H Kei or by its western name Yamada’s First Time. It is an adorable story about a young woman’s desire to bone 100 guys, the only problem… She hasn’t even kissed a boy before. When she runs into some geeky kid in a book story hilarity ensues!

B Gata H Kei is the story of a young teenager named Yamada. She has the simple goal of sleeping with 100 guys in the span of her high school career, the only problem is that she has never even kissed a boy before. So after a goofy encounter at a book store, Yamada sets her sites on Takashi, a nerdy and nervous young man who is the constant target of Yamada’s affections. The anime is about the two as they begin their long and challenging courtship facing several problems along the way, including their mutual awkward nature and romantic rivals.

Pros

It is a Decent Bubblegummy Love Story

It is not the worst love story that I have ever heard of, I will give the anime that. B Gata H Kei is cute in its own right. It is fun and if you are a fan of the Harem Animes like Love Hina then you can get some enjoyment out of it. Unlike Love Hina you do feel sympathetic towards Yamada as well as Takashi, two young teenagers whose hormones are going into overdrive.

It is kind of adorable to watch the jealousy and the puppy love take hold of these two as they begin to develop feelings for one another and eventually begin to date. When I first saw that this was the anime that was randomly chosen, I was groaning, thinking that I would have to sit through an insufferable love story… But I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was cheering for Yamada and Takashi to pull through the adversary and actually bone. It was a decent way to tell a story and I have to give them props for creating an engaging, all be it saccharine sweet and mildly abusive love story.

Cons

Harem Comedy Tropes are Abundant and Infuriating

Harem Animes are the most frustrating to watch for me. There are just so many tropes that they use over and over and over AND OVER AND OVER again that makes the things almost insufferable. I brought up Love Hina before, I will again by saying that it uses all of the most frustrating tropes of the genre and B Gata H Kei is not far behind when it comes to the strange way that Harem Animes seem to think relationships work.

For starters, Harem Animes tend to be the biggest cock tease/… What is a good word for female cock tease? Clam tickler? Yeah let’s go with that, but I digress. It is the biggest cock tease/clam tickler in just about any form of visual stimuli out there. These things are built on building up to an unsatisfying conclusion, many would call that a failed climax, but for Harem Animes it is par for the course and B Gata H Kei is nothing but unsatisfying conclusions, even to the point that at the end of the whole damn thing, the two don’t even bone! This series is built on Yamada wanting to fuck anything that has a penis and yet her and Takashi are still virgins at the end of this series. I know it is more about their damn relationship and I didn’t want to see details, we could have done a fade to black or just have her little eros deity celebrating in a black screen, but come on! You can’t build up an entire series to one event and then give us a whole lot of wacky hijinks when they are finally passed their awkward stages.

Not to mention the awkward stages are infuriating as well. I’m not the greatest when it comes to love, but I am a combination of Leonarod DiCaprio and George fucking Clooney compared to just about every single character in this series with few exceptions. The mere concept of touching each other in a non sexual sense is grounds for breaking someone’s face or running away screaming. Come on! It isn’t rocket science, flirt, go on a date, kiss, it isn’t that damn challenging of a concept, even for teenagers.

Then we can go into the little things such as the nose bleeds and the mere concept of the male to female anatomy being the end all be all in these kids minds or the strange archetype characters like the nerdy girl, the older sister, the wacky girl, the sexy suave guy to compete with the male protagonist and the female romantic rival who secretly wants to bone her brother… Which is bizarrely an archetype character… This show has them all and it will make you want to break your television screen seeing them all over and over and over again.

Conclusion

Overall, unless you are a fan of this particular subgenre, I would say to stay clear of it. It isn’t terrible, there are far worse than B Gata H Kei. But there just isn’t enough there beyond being a Harem Anime that isn’t horrible. It follows the same tropes, the same story and just can’t hold enough attention to warrant a satisfying watch.

Final Score 2/5

Thank you for reading and as always if you enjoyed this review then please like and subscribe for more. Come back on Tuesday for my review of the anime Psycho Pass. Until then, thank you for reading.

Dear Tanner I am currently doing a review on B G H Kei on my youtube channel and I was wondering if you could give me any tips on reviewing as I have never done it before, I would really appreciate your help.